Evonik will invest more than 150 million Canadian dollars, or about $109 million, to build a new good manufacturing practice drug-product facility in Vancouver, Canada, expanding its capacity for lipid-based drug delivery products including vaccines, therapeutics and other advanced medicines.
The project is supported by up to 68 million Canadian dollars, or about $49 million, from the Canadian federal government’s Strategic Response Fund. Production at the facility is planned to begin at the end of 2029.
The facility will support pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers developing lipid nanoparticle, or LNP, and liposomal products from formulation and clinical development through commercial-scale manufacturing. Evonik said the project will more than triple its existing manufacturing capacity for advanced pharmaceutical products in Vancouver.
The company also plans to expand quality-control and microbiological testing capabilities. Those additions are intended to improve manufacturing efficiency and support the timely release of products for clinical use.
Lipid-based delivery systems are used to encapsulate and deliver nucleic acid-based medicines, including mRNA products, as well as other therapeutic payloads. LNPs became widely recognized through their use in COVID-19 vaccines and are increasingly used as developers pursue new nucleic acid therapies.
Evonik’s Vancouver operation, formerly known as Transferra Nanosciences and Northern Lipids, has worked in lipid-based drug delivery since the 1990s. The site provides contract development and manufacturing services for LNP and liposomal delivery systems, including formulation research, GMP clinical-trial manufacturing and commercial process scale-up.
Lauren Kjeldsen, a member of Evonik’s executive board and chief operating officer for its Custom Solutions segment, said the investment builds on the company’s established work in lipid-based delivery technologies and is intended to support the development and commercialization of new therapies.
Guido Skudlarek, head of Evonik’s Health Care business line, said the investment strengthens Evonik’s presence in the Vancouver life-sciences ecosystem and its global network for lipid-based drug delivery.
British Columbia has more than 2,000 life-sciences companies employing nearly 20,000 people, most in Greater Vancouver, according to the announcement. The University of British Columbia has contributed to the area’s research and startup ecosystem.
The global LNP market is projected to reach $2.7 billion by 2034, according to the company’s release. Evonik said the Vancouver expansion is intended to meet growing demand for LNP development and clinical drug-product manufacturing.